Ted's Corner

Been awhile. Let's get down to business.

I received my copies of The Dark Tower (DT VII) today; one is for reading, the other is for collection purposes. This is the final volume of the seven volume series and perhaps concludes Stephen King's career. I was initially worried that this was going to be a short volume and that it could have been combined with Song of Susannah (DT VI) because pictures I had seen of the book on Bett's Books website made it look thin (300 - 400 pages). I am happy to say the book checks in at over 830 pages so my biggest worry is over. This will be a good long read and I hope (and feel) that the story will be concluded well. This volume is again illustrated by Michael Whelan who did the illustrations for The Gunslinger (DT I).

*MINOR ILLUSTRATION SPOILER ALERT*

I don't wish spoil the story for anyone so I will always use a *SPOILER ALERT* heading in future posts. However I will say that like all of the Dark Tower Books, they came out of the box demanding my attention and as I opened the pages to the table of contents the hair on the back of my head and neck and my arms stood up. I could practically feel the stories climax wanting to burst from the pages. I like the Whelan illustrations the best so I turned to the first one and said, "ohhhhhh". There was Pere Callahan in the middle of the Dixie Pig and it looked like I had pictured it from DT VI. The next one startled me and I said, "fuck". It appears to be Eddie Dean and he is either dead or badly wounded. There is a large poisonous spider near him. In DT VI there was foreshadowing indicating that either Roland or Eddie would be dead by the conclusion.

*END OF SPOILERS*

I'll be starting into the book soon and then reading the entire series again from the beginning once I have finished DT VII. It is hard for me to recommend this series to people even if they are King fans. Everyone comes away from this series differently and all I can suggest is that you read DT I The Gunslinger. It is relatively short and if it leaves you wanting more than I feel you will enjoy the series a great deal. If you are a fan of the series please post some comments here or send me an email. I love to discuss this work with others that are interested.

Moving on...

My friend Adam has his own blog now. You should check it out because he and Webdanzer were the two best writers at the old Calvert Games. I'm sure Adam will continue his entertaining and insightful writing, especially on the subject of motorsports and racing gaming.

Speaking of Webdanzer.....we continue to fish online on Thursday nights with Pro Fishing Challenge. Feel free to join us. I usually host (gamertag Granatofan). I understand the game is hard to find, but I saw a copy today at Blockbuster so maybe there is a chance your local one has it. We usually start at 11 pm EST and fish for about an hour.

Speaking of Blockbuster.......I signed up for Game Pass today which allows you to have a game out for rental for an unlimited amount of time for $19.99 per month (first month $14.99). There are a lot of new releases coming out and some old ones I'd like to get some time with without having to risk a purchase. My first one is Star Wars Battlefront because there is a good group of people from DSP that are playing and I want to get in on the action. I'm not into Star Wars and frankly don't get it, but the big battles look fun so I've got the game for an unlimited amount of time to try out. I'll post more Game Pass rental Impressions here as time goes by.

Speaking of Impressions......Dog's Life turned out to be average and a little gimmicky. There are too many other good games out right now for that one to hold my attention, but I'll revisit it in the future. It is geared for a young audience I can tell you that much. Wings of War is a real mixed bag, but at $19.99 wasn't too much of a bust. The cool stuff? You can fly from the cockpit, the planes and ground targets look good. The not-so-cool stuff? The planes don't maneuver like planes, they still are controlled like Crimson Skies. Those of us that are sim pilots would love to have a flight sim on Xbox. The missions are rather boring with too much of everything thrown in. In short, it is a more historically accurate version of a game like Crimson Skies. You're better off with Crimson Skies. NASCAR 2005: Chase for the Cup either leaves me flat or flat pisses me off. Okay, there are moments when I think it is a cool game, but if you want to play a great NASCAR racing game that is very much a sim go for the two year old Dirt to Daytona. It is less than half the price, has full sim capabilities and while doesn't have online capability, the single player career is so solid and so deep that you won't care. Unfortunately it is PS2 only. It is an amazing game and I'm shocked I never see anyone talk about it. Oh yeah there is no framerate problem like NASCAR 2005 has and the graphics are just as good. Seriously, the games are two years apart and the graphics are equal. Pro Fishing Challenge (mentioned above) is the best console fishing game ever made. It is the closest thing to a fishing simulation that I have ever played. If you are into fishing at all you need to get this game.

Finally, I joined Bill Abner's OOTP6 league. I've never been in one and I find myself constantly going over my roster and getting excited for the upcoming season. I may post more about my team, the Capital City Pioneers, in future blogs.

# posted by Ted @ 8:35 PM